jdmidwest

People that have never witnessed a flash flood never even think about it. Small little streams turn into raging rivers in a matter of minutes. I grew up on the other side of a creek that you could cross without getting much more than your ankles wet. But when it rained, it drained a huge watershed, and could rise 15 feet or more in no time, as could the branch that separated the house from the barn. One summer back in 76, we had some campers across the creek with a PU truck camper, Caddie, and other stuff. The creek rose from a 6 inch thunderstorm that night late. They were able to get out of the camper and into the jon boat that was on top of the camper before it turned over and washed away. The Caddie ended up 1/4 mile downstream. We lost over a mile of fence, a low water bridge, and hogs. The campers never came back. Several times since, we have had larger floods, but no damage. Everytime I camp, I try to be aware of any rain or river changes. The portable NOAA radio is great for this as well as other severe weather.

Farm subsidies were created for a reason, to provide us with cheap food and to give farmers an incentive to keep growing food. The CRP program and others that convert marginal land into wildlife cover and control erosion have their purpose too. Subsidies for Ethanol Products are a waste of taxpayer dollars. Ethanol is hard on the combustion engines that were not designed for it. It uses alot of ground water in its production. It is not cost effective, it costs more to produce than a gallon of gas. You get less gas mileage, so you burn more fuel. The most popular way of producing it involves the use of corn, which has been diverted to its production. Since corn is used in other things, it is raising the cost of the food we eat. Corn is used in livestock feed, so meat is on the rise. Production of corn is one of the most taxing of the major crops on the soil also. More fertilize and herbicides enter the streams as a result. Until a more feasible means of production is achieved, it should be halted.

I don't disagree that we are responsible for Polluting the Earth, we have come along way in controlling that in my lifetime with emission controls, better landfills, better water quality, and better education. I don't have a problem with that part. But how can you say we are changing the Earth's Climate. Most of Missouri was covered in Ice during the last Ice age and it has been receding since. And the recession of this ice is thawing out beds of old vegetation that releases methane into the air. It is not the cows farting that is causing global warming. Solar Activity peaks and wanes and science has shown trends with that and its relation to warming and cooling. Your CO2 increase could be countered by replacing natural forests to absorb the CO2, but we clear the land for other things and don't bother to replace the trees. Your flooding is caused by man, we have channelized streams, clear cut forests allowing runoff to increase, paved everything creating more runoff, etc. When it rains, it does not soak in like nature intended it too, it runs down hill, fast. Earth has seen many changes and it has recovered better each time. From volcanic activity to shallow seas, dinosaurs to mammoths, now we have smallies and whitetail deer, Missouri has seen it all and is still very liveable.

I doubt if the Best Minds and Greatest Expertise will ever be involved in solving this crisis. I too am a bit pessimistic on this also. Nuclear Energy is the best solution for production of Electric Power. Oil is our best solution for automotive needs till the Hydrogen Fuel Cells come of age. We still have plenty of oil, it can be extracted safely for the most part. One little mishap in the history of all of the barrels of oil that have been extracted has been blown out of proportion. Factor the barrels of extracted oil versus the spilled oil and I am sure it is still a small percentage. Ethanol was a folly, bad for the environment, bad for combustion engines, bad for the water table, bad in the fact that it used a valuable food source for its production. Bad because the government subsidized it is also a testament that the Great Minds were not engaged on that one.

Did everyone think that it just may be that we live in a more "connected" time now? We have access to weather anywhere, radar, river gauges, forecasts, trends, and historical data all on the net. Years ago, we got it on the radio or tv, and it was local, and it was alot of guesswork. Now we have more accurate data, quicker and faster. That and the fact that mass media loves to make hay over a good storm or tragedy. It gets replicated and blown up and sometimes out of proportion. Global warming was a hoax, just a normal cycle of the Earth. Climatic changes are measured in epochs, not administrations. Of course, it really could be the book of Revelation coming thru...... Conflict in the Middle East, lost morality, Obama, floods, etc all seem to make you think about the words in the last chapter of the Bible.

Most counties let you ride the county road system here in MO. Also, there are miles of gravel forestry roads that let you accomplish the same. The problems that have been an issue is using stream beds for trails and hiking trails for trails. We also have St Joe park which has miles of trails, hills, and lead tailings to play on.

No new law needed here, it is already on the books and has been around for a while. It has been enforced many times, I have witnessed a few myself. All-terrain vehicles, prohibited on highways, rivers or streams of this state, exceptions, operational requirements--special permits--prohibited uses--penalty. 304.013. 1. No person shall operate an all-terrain vehicle, as defined in section 301.010, RSMo, upon the highways of this state, except as follows: (1) All-terrain vehicles owned and operated by a governmental entity for official use; (2) All-terrain vehicles operated for agricultural purposes or industrial on-premises purposes between the official sunrise and sunset on the day of operation; (3) All-terrain vehicles operated by handicapped persons for short distances occasionally only on the state's secondary roads when operated between the hours of sunrise and sunset; (4) Governing bodies of cities may issue special permits to licensed drivers for special uses of all-terrain vehicles on highways within the city limits. Fees of fifteen dollars may be collected and retained by cities for such permits; (5) Governing bodies of counties may issue special permits to licensed drivers for special uses of all-terrain vehicles on county roads within the county. Fees of fifteen dollars may be collected and retained by the counties for such permits. 2. No person shall operate an off-road vehicle within any stream or river in this state, except that off-road vehicles may be operated within waterways which flow within the boundaries of land which an off-road vehicle operator owns, or for agricultural purposes within the boundaries of land which an off-road vehicle operator owns or has permission to be upon, or for the purpose of fording such stream or river of this state at such road crossings as are customary or part of the highway system. All law enforcement officials or peace officers of this state and its political subdivisions or department of conservation agents or department of natural resources park rangers shall enforce the provisions of this subsection within the geographic area of their jurisdiction. 3. A person operating an all-terrain vehicle on a highway pursuant to an exception covered in this section shall have a valid operator's or chauffeur's license, except that a handicapped person operating such vehicle pursuant to subdivision (3) of subsection 1 of this section, but shall not be required to have passed an examination for the operation of a motorcycle, and the vehicle shall be operated at speeds of less than thirty miles per hour. When operated on a highway, an all-terrain vehicle shall have a bicycle safety flag, which extends not less than seven feet above the ground, attached to the rear of the vehicle. The bicycle safety flag shall be triangular in shape with an area of not less than thirty square inches and shall be day-glow in color. 4. No persons shall operate an all-terrain vehicle: (1) In any careless way so as to endanger the person or property of another; (2) While under the influence of alcohol or any controlled substance; (3) Without a securely fastened safety helmet on the head of an individual who operates an all-terrain vehicle or who is being towed or otherwise propelled by an all-terrain vehicle, unless the individual is at least eighteen years of age. 5. No operator of an all-terrain vehicle shall carry a passenger, except for agricultural purposes. The provisions of this subsection shall not apply to any all-terrain vehicle in which the seat of such vehicle is designed to carry more than one person. 6. A violation of this section shall be a class C misdemeanor. In addition to other legal remedies, the attorney general or county prosecuting attorney may institute a civil action in a court of competent jurisdiction for injunctive relief to prevent such violation or future violations and for the assessment of a civil penalty not to exceed one thousand dollars per day of violation. (L. 1988 H.B. 990, A.L. 1990 H.B. 1279, A.L. 1997 H.B. 389, A.L. 2004 H.B. 996 and H.B. 1142 and H.B. 1201 and H.B. 1489 merged with S.B. 1233, et al.)

As we all know, what may be the worst ecological disaster of our time is taking place in the Gulf as we speak. The oil rig suffered a malfunction, caught on fire and 11 people lost their lives. If that is not tragic enough, the well has been spewing oil into the Gulf for 52 or 53 days now. BP is on the hook for the bill, but is it really their fault? A fail safe valve was installed at the well head that was designed to shut off the flow of oil in case of a disaster, it failed. Being in business, you sell me something "Fail Safe", that means that it has the safeguards designed into it to prevent it from failing and you should stand behind it with some kind of liability. Seems like the supplier of this device is at fault, why are we not blaming them??? When the oil plume hit the surface, NOAA's plan was to set the oil on fire and burn it off. EPA countered that plan for fears that it would endanger the environment and stopped that plan. Both are government agencies, why are we holding them accountable?? I have no love for BP or any Foreign Petroleum Provider, but we have run all of ours out of business by regulations and government intervention. They are not an American Company, why should we care if we put them out of business?? Because we are dependent on oil, we have a government that wants to regulate it to the point that is not feasible to do business as an American Oil Company, we really have to have the outside intervention. Hence, the US Government Policies are really to blame.

Contact your local MDC Agent or office, they will probably know. Ask one of the canoe liveries or campground hosts near K bridge.

I think he was being nice, around here they use a single strand of barbed wire. Years ago when I was a kid, we used to ride trail bikes in the seventies. After Christmas we took off riding on log roads in a National Forest that contained some private land mixed in. Some landowner decided to put a single strand of barb wire between 2 trees across the road. I was first and saw it too late, hit it and shred a new down vest I had gotten that morning.

Welcome back, good to see another gun guy on here again.

Several years ago, it was a big problem. I even had a guy in a 4wd truck in a hole with water up to his hood as me to go find someone to tow him out. I did, the MDC. I did not go back to see what happened, but I dropped a dime for him. I was even hassled one time by agents because I parked on a gravel bar so I did not block a farm crossing. While what I did was not illegal, he still questioned me and I had to explain why I parked there. I was not anywhere near the water in the stream and was parked on solid gravel without even leaving tracks. I have come across a few ATV tracks from time to time, but this is the first Big Rig tracks I have seen in a while and they really muddied up the stream. It looked like there had been a big rain.

If you have ever walked down to the old trestle, you would notice that it was a party spot. The bridge on the gravel road above that HWY bridge is also posted now too. If you went up river, you would have noticed the owners house on the west bank. I have seen him and talked to him many times over the years. But I really don't know what he will do now, I have not tested him. Thanks to meth, poor ethics, and outright drunkedness, many of our accesses are being closed. You are still allowed to walk thru or float thru, just no parking or direct access on private property without permission.

Fishing, what does it really mean to you?? Coming off a great weekend with a good friend, enjoying one of the best times I have ever spent in the outdoors since the last time, I propose a poll and a few questions.

If you take the time and read the article, he states and I copied it for you an excerpt. "And just accept what we have here. Manage it in a reasonable way that includes a component of keeping and eating fish. There’s more to fishing than size of the fish. I live where I do because I love our Ozark streams. I give up a lot to live here. Economically and more. We have world class streams here. I can’t imagine anyone would say fishing at Wilson Dam in Alabama is a world class experience that compares with fishing an Ozark stream. I guess what I’m saying is I wouldn’t give up our world class streams to obtain world class smallmouth if it takes fishing below a Wilson Dam." That clearly states that he likes what we have here and he does not want Missouri to become a Wilson Dam. I don't think he attacks the MSA and I am not really sure the MSA is the right choice to manage our smallmouth streams. I think the MDC has a little more intellectual firepower to do so other than alot of individuals motivated by a single cause. If I was to manage Missouri Smallmouth, I would probably remove trout from the 11pt River and restore it to its natural habitat. I would bust out the dams on the White River system and restore them to the natural habitat. Both would improve smallmouth fishing in Missouri, but how popular would I be????? Feel free to browse more on the topic and even a letter to the editor from the OP. River Hills Travler online.

2 years ago I picked up a nice little item off of Ebay, the Flyte Deck Chest pack. Great little minimalistic system for hot summer days. Being the one to improvise on someone elses invention, I have attached velcro to several other alum. fly boxes to rotate for specific species or situations. I have a trout box and a panfish/stream bass box and the system works great. The holder for the coil cords fell off pretty quick, but I really did not need them. The pouch is great to carry a bottle of water in on your back. If it had a holster, I would have a perfect system. I added a tippet holder made out of a carabiner, elastic cord, and a barrel lock for a few spools of tippet. All interchange with my big chest pack. When its hot, it does not add anything to make you hotter, it is that small and light. The rod holder is great. It is nice for that spur of the moment, jump out and fish for a while too. Flytedeck Website.

Nuke it!

Came home this afternoon and took a little Siesta. Awoke refreshed and decided to stomp out a creek for some smallie action. Got to the stream and noticed it was muddy. I had crossed it on Friday and water was clear. We had no rain on the weekend. Further investigation revealed the culprit, in stream 4 wheelers. Based on the tracks it looked like a 4 wheeler and a jeep sized vehicle at least, maybe 2. I followed the tracks up several holes and the water was all muddy. Looks like it was done today or last night based on the tracks. There was one spot about knee deep where they had really churned up the gravel in a whole with all 4 turning. It really messed up the fishing and at least one Longear Sunfish bed. I did not follow them all the way up, I turned around disgusted after a few holes. I did manage to catch a few. Reports will be made to the Bollinger County Agent. I hope this will not become a trend again like it was a few years back.

It is County jurisdiction, and it is an old, one lane, low water bridge on a paved county road. Much like States can have different laws than Federal, Counties it seems have the same problem with no consistancy. According to the agent that was bombarded with this problem, there is no county road right of way in Madison County. They do mow the shoulders along this road.

Spent the weekend in one of my favorite parts of the state, the St. Francois Mountain Range. Saturday started early with a drive down scenic HWY E outside of Fredericktown thru the mountains. It is a narrow, twisty road, but the scenery is great. St. Francis River and bluffs, Marble Creek Valley, and of course 5 miles of gravel roughness to Crane Pond Lake. Arrived there around 6 and met my buddy who had already caught and released several nice bass. We proceeded to spend the morning doing more of the same in peace and solitude. We had the lake to ourselves. Around 10, we pulled out and off to the next adventure. Taum Sauk Reservoir has a upper and lower lake, it is a pumped storage facility run by Ameren UE. A few years back, the upper lake levee gave way and flooded the valley. Millions was spent rebuilding it and its operational again. The lower lake is open for fishing. The tourist shop and upper lake is securely closed to visitors at this time. We fished here for several years. At one time it was stocked with Stripers and was unique for that. Since they pump water out of the lower lake into the upper lake to generate power, the water levels fluctuates alot, much like a tailwater. We were not prepared for what we found. The lake was pumped out and lower than we had ever saw. New Berms and Structures of Rip Rap have been created. Timber has been killed out by flooding, the lake is filled with trees. The water is pure mud, probably a result of the additive they put in to settle the mud out after the flood and the new raising and lowering of generation. We caught a few fish, but it is a ugly place now and will take several years to regenerate. After that, lunch at Bailey Joe's in Arcadia and fishing at a private pond for bass. Back again today to Crane Pond, different story. Front came thru, bass turned off. Wind whipping up whitecaps and fishing was poor. We were still the only boat on the lake. The pretty lake at daylight is Crane Pond, the muddy one is Lower Taum Sauk.

What exactly is wrong with eating a fish? Are you all vegetarians?

I know the bridge, and it seems like you are trespassing according to the local game warden. I have accessed there for 30 years and went there last year and seen the same thing and left and started asking questions. Someone got shot a few years ago at the bridge and both owners, above and below posted it to keep away the problems. Seems like Madison Cty does not have any right of way on either side of the road at the location for some reason and you are sol on that too. According to Jeff Scott, the local agent, the Sheriff Dept. will issue a ticket for trespass. Like it is stated above, you are in the right if you are in the water and stay in the water, but there is no place to park without trespassing. Did you ask permission from either of the owners before you set out? That would have been the polite thing to do and may have gotten you a free pass.

Actually, if you read the whole article, he merely states that our Smallmouth Fishing is World Class in its own way. If sitting in a boat in an impoundment catching a 5 lb. smallie is your idea of World Class, so be it. Mine is a nice 18" on a fly rod on a clear stream that can only be accessed by creek wading. He has a point about the management areas, they really have not produced many more fish. But I am thinking most of it is the cause of the enforcement of the area regs and not the regs themselves. Most of the areas still suffer from undersize fish poaching. I would be happy with an 18", 1 fish limit also, but without enforcement, it is pretty well useless. Most streams I wade, it would only take a few anglers killing alot of fish to clean them out. Alot of it is that there are many more fishing the streams for smallmouth than there were 20 years ago and more increased pressure. And most Ozark streams have declined in flow and quality in my lifetime. Many productive streams I used to fish are now gravel filled runnoff canals. Castor River is about half of what it used to be when I started fishing it out of jon boats many years ago.

I have never really noticed alot of "skinny" smallies around here, just evenly proportioned. Lazy Lake Smallies have a pot belly, they don't have to stay streamlined to fight the current. Same goes for stream Largemouths and Kentucky Bass unless they are full of eggs. If you are catching alot of pot bellied smallies, you must be fishing them off beds.

Some mother's son, cheated death one time, continued to fight on the war against Terrorist. 1,000th GI killed in Afghan war was on 2nd tour By PAUL J. WEBER, Associated Press Writer Paul J. Weber, Associated Press Writer – 1 hr 9 mins ago KERRVILLE, Texas – The 1,000th American serviceman killed in Afghanistan had already fallen once to a hidden explosive, driving his Humvee over a bomb in Iraq in 2007. The blast punched the dashboard radio into his face and broke his leg in two places. Marine Cpl. Jacob C. Leicht didn't survive his second encounter with a bomb this week. The death of the 24-year-old Texan born on the Fourth of July marks a grim milestone in the Afghanistan war. Leicht, who spent two painful years recovering from the Iraq blast, was killed Thursday when he stepped on a land mine in Helmand province that ripped off his right arm. He had written letters from his hospital bed begging to be put back on the front lines, and died less than a month into that desperately sought second tour. An Associated Press tally shows Leicht is the 1,000th U.S. serviceman killed in the Afghan conflict. The first death — nearly nine years ago — was also a soldier from the San Antonio area. "He said he always wanted to die for his country and be remembered," said Jesse Leicht, his younger brother. "He didn't want to die having a heart attack or just being an old man. He wanted to die for something." The AP bases its tally on Defense Department reports of deaths suffered as a direct result of the Afghan conflict, including personnel assigned to units in Afghanistan, Pakistan or Uzbekistan. Other news organizations count deaths suffered by service members assigned elsewhere as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, which includes operations in the Philippines, the Horn of Africa and at the U.S. detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Leicht's brothers told the AP that the military also told the family that his death put the toll at 1,000. When military officers went to tell Leicht's parents that their adopted son had died in combat, sheriff's deputies had to help navigate them to the 130-acre family ranch tucked impossibly deep in the Texas Hill Country. It was here that Jacob Leicht chopped thick cedar trees and hiked the rugged limestone peaks, growing up into an imposing 6-5, 200-pound Marine with a soft heart. He watched "Dora the Explorer" with his brother's children and confided to family that he was troubled by the thought of young civilians being killed in battle. But for Leicht, born in a Lemoore, Calif., Navy hospital, the battlefield was the destination. He threw away a college ROTC scholarship after just one semester because he feared it would lead away from the front lines. "His greatest fear was that they would tell him he would have to sit at a desk for the rest of his life," said Jonathan Leicht, his older brother. When Jacob Leicht's wish finally came true, it didn't last long. His first deployment was to Iraq in 2007, but he was there just three weeks when Jesse Leicht said his brother drove over two 500-pound bombs hidden beneath the road. One detonated, the other didn't. The blast tore through the Humvee, shooting the radio into Leicht's face and knocking him unconscious. He felt something pinch his thumb, and the gunner's face was filleted so badly by shrapnel that medics couldn't keep water in his mouth. None of the five people were inside the vehicle died. Jesse Leicht said an Iraqi interpreter, the only one on board who wasn't seriously injured, dragged his brother from the mangled vehicle. The blast snapped Jacob Leicht's fibula and tibula, and the recovery was an agonizing ordeal of pins and rods and bolts drilled into his bones. But all Jacob Leicht could think about was going back. He launched a campaign for himself at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, writing letters and making phone calls about returning to combat. More than two years later, he was finally healthy enough to serve again. Nine days before his brother stepped on a bomb in Afghanistan, Jesse Leicht enlisted in the Marines. Using Facebook to reach a friend stationed at a base not far from his brother, Jesse asked the soldier a favor: If you see Jacob, let him know I signed up like him. "Hopefully," Jesse Leicht said, "he got the word."